I got a question, since this thread is technically a competition although I see it more as a place to show creative photos/art, isn't it in theory a bit unbalanced if some got accese to photoshop and other doesn't? I would imagine atleast a couple of people here here got irl jobs making commercials and general graphics which would give them editing tools for free.
The most expensive software doesn't matter.
I used to use Paint Tool SAI over Photoshop until it stopped working.
I use Krita now, and it's free, I think it's better for my work, in my case it's far more user-friendly, and then I have another program I export to for post-processing.
Often you'll find this paid software is for a very specific function, and it's got something of a monopoly on the market, which is why they end up so widely popularised, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's better software.